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January 2013 hoice Informed by our unrivalled panel of critics, we choose the month’s must-hear recordings VINCI Artaserse Soloists; Swiss Radio and Television Chorus; Concerto Köln / Diego Fasolis Virgin Classics 602869 2 Recording of the Month ‘Vinci’s reputation is emphatically rehabilitated by this advocacy of Artaserse masterminded by Max Emanuel Cencic’ DAVID VICKERS’S REVIEW IS ON PAGE 44 Tap here to enjoy excerpts on the Gramophone Player BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos 5 & 7 ORR / John Eliot Gardiner Soli Deo Gloria SDG717 ‘John Eliot Gardiner and his resplendent Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique rejoice here in the sheer physicality of the music, the bounding rhythms, the stomping accents.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 48 KNUSSEN ‘Autumnal’ Soloists; Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; BBC SO / Oliver Knussen NMC NMCD178 ‘There is an edgy blend of lamentation and celebration that is the more affecting for its directness and economy.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 50 4 GRAMOPHONE JANUARY 2013 PROKOFIEV Violin Works Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn vns Itamar Golan pf LPO / Vladimir Jurowski Decca 478 3546DH ‘The highlight of the disc is the First Violin Sonata… Its sombre power is fully revealed in Jansen and Golan’s account.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 53 ELGAR ‘The Longed-For Light’ Susan Gritton sop Simon Callow spkr BBC Concert Orchestra / John Wilson Somm SOMMCD247 ‘Wilson’s treatment of Sospiri (1914) is particularly intoxicating, with some beautifully judged, “old school” string portamento worthy of Barbirolli himself.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 71 FAURÉ Requiem JS BACH Solo Violin Partita No 2 Soloists; Tenebrae; LSO Chamber Ensemble / Nigel Short LSO Live LSO0728 ‘The performance is elevated into something quite remarkable; I have no hesitation in labelling this the very best Fauré Requiem on disc.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 71 gramophone.co.uk
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CONTENTS eviews ‘PLORER, GEMIR, CRIER’ ‘Homage to Johannes Ockeghem’ Diabolus in Musica / Antoine Guerber Aeon AECD1226 ‘This performance is so well judged that it positively invites repeated listening. The Credo is particularly impressive.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 72 HANDEL ‘Finest Arias for Base Voice’ Christopher Purves bass Arcangelo / Jonathan Cohen Hyperion CDA67842 ‘Possessing in effect two voices in one – a ringing, high baritone with a sonorous bass extension – Purves veils his tone to convey bemusement, even pathos.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 77 ‘ROMANTIQUE’ Opera Arias Elīna Garanča mez Bologna Teatro Comunale Philharmonic Orchestra / Yves Abel DG 479 0071GH ‘“O mon Fernand!” expresses shame and despair. Garan∂a sings the slow section with artless simplicity and the cabaletta with passion.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 84 ‘NOUVEAU MONDE’ Baroque Arias and Songs Patricia Petibon sop Kevin Greenlaw bar La Cetra / Andrea Marcon DG 479 0079GH ‘“Nouveau monde” is a tightly thought-through, compelling programme, a tour de force for its performer/compiler, most atmospherically recorded.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 85 DVD/Blu-ray PUCCINI Tosca Soloists; Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Antonio Pappano; Jonathan Kent dir EMI Classics ◊ 404063 9; Y 404064 9 ‘The orchestra pit teems with drama as vividly as the stage.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 80 gramophone.co.uk Reissue/Archive DEBUSSY Pelléas et Mélisande Soloists; BBC Chorus; Philharmonia Orchestra / Désiré-Émile Ingelbrecht Testament SBT3 1484 ‘Ingelbrecht sculpts a rich, weighty but microscopically balanced reading of the composer’s only completed opera.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 76 Reviewed this month: 47 German symphonies; 19 Austrian symphonies; 1 Swedish symphony ORCHESTRAL Frans Brüggen’s Beethoven symphonies; Dudamel’s Symphony of a Thousand; Schubert cycles from Minkowski and van Immerseel 46 CHAMBER James Ehnes’s Bartók sonatas; one half of the Belcea Quartet’s Beethoven cycle; exploring English music for viola and piano 60 INSTRUMENTAL 66 Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on period and new pianos; Chopin from Maurizio Pollini; Rachmaninov plays Rachmaninov (and others) VOCAL Lincoln Cathedral salutes John Ireland; English consort music from Canada; Andreas Scholl sings Brahms, Haydn and Mozart 70 OPERA The Ring from the Met; Carmen live from Glyndebourne; Peter Sellars directs Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky; Christmas Cav & Pag 76 BOOKS 86 Two books explore the life and legacy of conducting legend Arturo Toscanini; Thomas Adès on the art of composition and conversation REPLAY 88 Rob Cowan delves into EMI’s ‘Icon’ box-sets, Profil’s set of Günter Wand recordings and treats from John Ogdon and Christian Ferras THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE David Gutman unveils the playful, deceptive and uplifting music of Bohuslav Martin≤ that reaches far beyond the six symphonies 90 THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION Richard Wigmore hunts down the finest available recordings of Gustav Mahler’s cycle of songs to texts by Friedrich Rückert 92 GRAMOPHONE JANUARY 2013 5

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January 2013

hoice Informed by our unrivalled panel of critics, we choose the month’s must-hear recordings

VINCI Artaserse Soloists; Swiss Radio and Television Chorus; Concerto Köln / Diego Fasolis Virgin Classics 602869 2

Recording of the Month ‘Vinci’s reputation is emphatically rehabilitated by this advocacy of Artaserse masterminded by Max Emanuel Cencic’

DAVID VICKERS’S REVIEW IS ON PAGE 44

Tap here to enjoy excerpts on the Gramophone Player

BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos 5 & 7 ORR / John Eliot Gardiner Soli Deo Gloria SDG717 ‘John Eliot Gardiner and his resplendent Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique rejoice here in the sheer physicality of the music, the bounding rhythms, the stomping accents.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 48

KNUSSEN ‘Autumnal’ Soloists; Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; BBC SO / Oliver Knussen NMC NMCD178 ‘There is an edgy blend of lamentation and celebration that is the more affecting for its directness and economy.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 50

4 GRAMOPHONE JANUARY 2013

PROKOFIEV Violin Works Janine Jansen, Boris Brovtsyn vns Itamar Golan pf LPO / Vladimir Jurowski Decca 478 3546DH ‘The highlight of the disc is the First Violin Sonata… Its sombre power is fully revealed in Jansen and Golan’s account.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 53

ELGAR ‘The Longed-For Light’ Susan Gritton sop Simon Callow spkr BBC Concert Orchestra / John Wilson Somm SOMMCD247 ‘Wilson’s treatment of Sospiri (1914) is particularly intoxicating, with some beautifully judged, “old school” string portamento worthy of Barbirolli himself.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 71

FAURÉ Requiem JS BACH Solo Violin Partita No 2 Soloists; Tenebrae; LSO Chamber Ensemble / Nigel Short LSO Live LSO0728 ‘The performance is elevated into something quite remarkable; I have no hesitation in labelling this the very best Fauré Requiem on disc.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 71

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